creed 24 we believe in the holy spirit, the lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the father,...

Creed 24We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the

Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who speaks

through the prophets

The work of the Spirit in salvation history

1. The Spirit and the Word in the time of the promises

2. The Spirit and Christ in the fullness of time3. The Spirit and the Church in the last days


In the Old Testament part of salvation history: • When the church reads the Old Testament, she

searches there for what the Spirit, “Who has spoken through the prophets,” wants to tell us about Christ (2 Cor 3:14; John 5:39, 46). By “prophets” the faith of the church understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired in the composition of the sacred books, both of the Old and the New Testaments. The Jewish tradition distinguishes first the Law (the 5 first books or Pentateuch), then the prophets (our historical and prophetic books), and finally the writings (specially the wisdom literature, in particular the Psalms). Luke 24:44


In creation: • The Word of God and His Breath are at the origin and

being of every creature: “It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation for He is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son… Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God He preserves creation in the Father through the Son.” –Byzantine liturgy, Sundays of the second mode, Troparion of morning prayer

• “God fashioned man with His own Hands (that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit) and impressed His own form on the flesh He had fashioned, in such a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form.” –St. Irenaeus


The Spirit of the promise: • Man was made in the “image” and “likeness.” Sin disfigured

man and man became no more in the likeness (glory of the Son) of God but he continues to be the image, but a disfigured image. The promise made to Abraham announces the economy of salvation, on the summit of which the Son Himself will assume that “image” (Phil 2:7; John 1:14) and restore it in the Father’s “likeness” by giving it again it’s glory, the Spirit who is the Giver of life. In the promise to Abraham (against all human hope) God commits Himself by His own solemn oath to giving His beloved Son and “the promised Holy Spirit… [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Eph 1:13-14; Gen 22:17-19; Luke 1:73; John 3:16; Romans 8:32; Gal 3:14).


In theophanies and the Law:• Theophanies, in which the Word of God allowed

Himself to be seen and heard, light up the way of the promise; in these theophanies, the cloud of the Holy Spirit both revealed and concealed Word in its shadow.

• God gave the Law as a tutor to lead His people towards Christ (Gal 3:24). But the Law’s powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine “likeness,” along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts (Rom 3:20), enkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit.


In the Kingdom and the Exile:• “If you will obey My voice and My covenant,… you

shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:5-6). However, after King David, Israel forsook the Law and gave in to the temptation to be like other kingdoms.

• The Kingdom, the object of the promise made to David (2 Sam 7; Ps 89; Luke 1:32-33), would be the work of the Holy Spirit, not of the old covenant; it would belong to the poor according to the Spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3).


• The consequence of Israel’s infidelity to the Law was death: the Exile, which was the outward representation of Israel’s interior departure from the covenant, was also the mysterious fidelity of the Savior God and the beginning of the promised restoration according to the Spirit.

• The source of the Spirit now is the resurrected Christ; He became the source through His sacrifice. The Holy Spirit then comes to us and makes us able to obey God


• The Exile stands in the shadow of the Cross; the Remnant of the poor who returned from the exile (i.e., being cut off from God) is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church, the Gentile people who are also cut off from God and in need of Christ:“And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who where scattered abroad.” (John 11:49-52).


The Expectation of the Messiah and His Spirit (the relationship between Them):

• The characteristics of the awaited Messiah: “ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of His roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-2).

• Other characteristics of the Messiah include the Passion, and pouring out the Holy Spirit to give life to many (Isaiah 42:1-9; Mt 12:18-21; Jn 1:32-34; Isaiah 49:1-6; Mt 3:17; Lk 2:32; Isaiah 50:4-10; Isaiah 52:13-53:12). This He does, not as an outsider, but by embracing our “form as slave” (Phil 2:7). Taking our death upon Himself, He can communicate to us His own Spirit of life.

• This is why Christ says:“ The Spirit of Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 62:1-2; Lk 4:18-19).


• Through the prophetic texts that speak directly of the sending of the Holy Spirit, God speaks to the heart of His people in the language of the promise, with the accents of “love and fidelity” (Ezek 11:19; 36:25-28; 37:1-14; Jer 31:31-34; Joel 3:1-5). These prophecies were fulfilled on Pentecost.

• The people of the “poor” (Zeph 2:3; Psalms 22:27; 34:3; Isaiah 49:13; 61:1) – those, who are humble and meek, rely solely on their God’s mysterious plans, who await the justice, not of men but of the Messiah – are in the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit’s hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ’s coming. In these poor, the Spirit is making ready “a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk 1:17).

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time: 1. John the Baptist – “There was a man sent

from God, whose name was John” • John was “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s

womb” (Lk 1:15,41) by Christ Himself. • In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of

“[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk 1:17); John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah (Mt 11:13-14).

• As the Spirit of Truth will also do, John came to “bear witness to the light” (Jn 1:7), thus in John’s sight, the Spirit brings to completion the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels (1 Pet 1:10-12). “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God… Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:33-36).

• With John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of the “divine likeness,” prefiguring what He would achieve with and in Christ. John’s baptism was for repentance; baptism in water and the Spirit will be for a new birth (Jn 3:5).

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time: 2. St. Mary – “Rejoice, you who are full of

grace” • For the first time in the plan of salvation and because

His Spirit had prepared her, the Father found a dwelling place where His Son and His Spirit could dwell among men.

• In her, the “wonders of God” that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the Church began to be manifested:

1. The Holy Spirit prepared St. Mary by His grace2. In St. Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the

Father’s loving goodness. 3. In St. Mary, the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the

Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she makes the Word visible in the humility of His flesh.

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time: 2. St. Mary – “Rejoice, you who are full of

grace”4. Through St. Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men,

the objects of God’s merciful love (Lk 2:14), into communion with Christ. The humble are always the first to accept Him: shepherds, magi, Simon and Anna, the bride and groom at Cana, and the first disciples

• At the end of this mission of the Spirit, St. Mary became the Woman, the new Eve (“mother of all living”), the mother of the “Christ” (Jn 19:25-27). As such, she was present with the 12, “who with one accord devoted themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14), at the dawn of the “end time” which the Spirit was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church.

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time:

3. Christ Jesus • The entire mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the

fullness of time, is contained in this: that the Son is the One anointed by the Father’s Spirit since His Incarnation – Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

• Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until He himself has been glorified through His Death and Resurrection. He alludes to Him, little by little: when He reveals that His own flesh will be food for the life of the world, when He is speaking with Nicodemus, to the Samaritan woman, and to those who take part in the feast of Tabernacles (Jn 6:27, 51, 62-63; Jn 3:5-8; John 4:10, 14, 23-24; Jn 7:37-39). He speaks openly to His disciples of the Spirit in connection with prayer and with the witness they will have to bear (Lk 11:13; Mt 10:19-20).

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time:3. Christ Jesus

• Only when the hour has arrived for His glorification does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since His death and resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers. The Spirit of truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus’ prayer; He will be sent by the Father in Jesus’ name; and Jesus will send Him from the Father’s side, since He comes from the Father.

• The Holy Spirit will come and we shall know Him; He will:1. be with us forever 2. teach us everything3. Remind us of all that Christ said to us and bear witness to Him4. Lead us into all truth5. Glorify Christ6. Reprove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment

The Spirit and Christ at the fullness of time:3. Christ Jesus

• When Jesus’ hour arrives, He commends His spirit into the Father’s hands at the very moment when by His death He conquers death, so that, “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom 6:4), He might immediately give the Holy Spirit by “breathing” on His disciples. From this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: “As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21; Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47; Acts 1:8).

The Spirit and the Church in the Last Days

Pentecost:• On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day,

the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in Him; in the humility of flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By His coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the “last days,” the time of the church, the Kingdom already inherited though not consummated.

• Pentecost was the fulfillment of the prophecies (mentioned earlier), and the start of the “end times,” when the Lord’s Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them, gathering and reconciling the scattered peoples, and transforming the first creation, allowing for God to dwell there with men in peace.


• “Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God “Father” and to share in Christ’s grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory” – St. Basil

How does this happen?


• Through God’s love, His first gift which contains all others; “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

• The first effect of this gift of love is the forgiveness of sin, as we have become dead because of sin, or at least wounded.

• The Spirit then gives us the “pledge” or “first fruits” of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as “God has loved us” (1 Jn 4:11-12; Rom 8:23; 2 Cor 1:21). This love is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received “power” from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 13).

• By the power of the Spirit, the children of God can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us into the new vine will make us bear “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22). “We live by the Spirit”; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:25; Mt 16: 24-26).


• The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is fulfilled in the Church, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

• The Spirit:1.Prepares men and meets them with His grace,

in order to draw them to Christ2.Manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls His

word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of His death and resurrection.


3. makes present the mystery of Christ (in the Eucharist) in order to reconcile them, to..

4. Bring them into communion with God, that they may “bear much fruit” (Jn 15:8, 16)

• Thus the Church’s mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present, and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity


“ All of us who have received one and the same Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, are in a sense blended together with one another and with God. For if Christ, together with the Father’s and His own Spirit, comes to dwell in each of us, though we are many, still the Spirit is one and undivided. He binds together the spirits of each and every one of us,… and makes all appear as one in Him. For just as the power of Christ’s sacred flesh unites those in whom it dwells into one body, I think that in the same way the one and undivided Spirit of God, who dwells in all, leads all into spiritual unity.” – St. Cyril of Alexandria


• Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among His members (in the Sacraments) to nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to give them life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to His self-offering to the Father and to His intercession for the whole world.

How is the Holy Spirit given to us?• The people who heard Peter speak at Pentecost asked him how they might

receive salvation. He answered, “repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). We repent (turn from our sins and towards Christ); we are baptized; we are given “the gift of the Holy Spirit,” chrismation. That practice has never changed. In Acts 8, Philip the deacon and evangelist, preached in Samaria (verses 5-8). Many believed and were baptized (12). The apostles came and later confirmed these new believers with the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands (verses 14-17). Here is the sacrament of chrismation following holy baptism. Later, the apostle Paul met some disciples of John the Baptist who had not been present when Peter spoke at Pentecost (Acts 19:1-7). They believed in Christ, “where baptized” (verse 5), and “the Holy Spirit came upon them” (verse 6) again through the hands of an apostle. The promise of God includes both our union with Christ in holy baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit in chrismation.

How to Kindle -be filled with- the Spirit

• There are means that enables one to be filled with the Spirit of God. They are called “means of grace”:

1. The mysteries of the Church, especially the Eucharist 2. Prayer in the name of Christ (Luke 11:13)3. Fasting, offered in the name of Christ, together with prayer

(Acts 13:2)4. Service offered in the name of Christ (Matt 10:42)5. The Word of God, looking for an encounter with Christ6. Giving for the love of Christ (Parable of the unjust steward –

Luke 16:11-12)

creed 24 we believe in the holy spirit, the lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the father,...

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